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Company that employs the blind seeks more business partners
Brian Stroud and his co-workers want everyone to know that even if they can't see what they're doing, they can assemble a quality product.

"The main goal is to get blind people working," said Stroud, who is business-development manager for Midwest Enterprises for the Blind Inc. and is blind himself.

Midwest Enterprises employs about 26 people, the vast majority of whom are blind or visually impaired. They assemble pens, pencils and calculators at the company's plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan. And they are looking for more work.

Five or six people are on a waiting list to be hired by the 15-year-old company, President Karen Walls said. She said 70 percent of the nation's blind are unemployed.

Walls said she wants Midwest Enterprises to assemble products for Kalamazoo-area businesses so the agency can hire more blind people. Midwest Enterprises officials say many area businesses are unaware of what they offer.

Walls and Production Manager Glen Mackey, who are both sighted, hope to have Midwest Enterprises begin assembling another product for the federal government soon, but they would not identify the product.

To earn a federal contract, Midwest Enterprises must have blind people performing at least 75 percent of its government-related work. Walls said the agency also must pay its employees at least the minimum wage, but she said many of them earn about $9 per hour.